The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Cynthia Bailey found herself at the center of pregnancy rumors back in June when she appeared to be sporting a bit of a baby bump while attending the 2013 Miss USA pageant (photo above). Cynthia later assured fans that she wasn’t pregnant but “dealing with a medical condition that makes me look pregnant.” She later revealed more information to Radar Online, telling the site, “I will be having a surgery and rectifying the [situation]. That will play out on the show.”
Though Cynthia has yet to reveal exactly what her medical condition is, The National Enquirer is reporting that the 46-year-old former supermodel has uterine fibroid tumors. “She didn’t go to the doctor because she was working too much. But when her stomach started to grow, and she knew she wasn’t pregnant, she went to the doctor in a panic, wondering if she had cancer,” a family friend says.
The source confirms what Cynthia told Radar Online, that viewers will get to see Cynthia dealing with the tumors on the next season of RHOA. “Cynthia agreed to share her health crisis on the show because she wants other women see what she goes through and be reminded that they need to get regular checkups,” the source tells the site.
As it turns out, uterine fibroid tumors are very common — even more so among black women. From MayoClinic.com:
Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during childbearing years. … Uterine fibroids aren’t associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer and almost never develop into cancer.
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Fibroids range in size from seedlings, undetectable by the human eye, to bulky masses that can distort and enlarge the uterus. They can be single or multiple, in extreme cases expanding the uterus so much that it reaches the rib cage.
As many as 3 out of 4 women have uterine fibroids sometime during their lives, but most are unaware of them because they often cause no symptoms.
Under “Risk Factors” for uterine fibroid tumors the site includes:
Race. Black women are more likely to have fibroids than women of other racial groups. In addition, black women have fibroids at younger ages, and they’re also likely to have more or larger fibroids.
